Victoria Thomas, a 41-year-old accountant from Bristol, has shared her remarkable story of survival after being clinically dead for 17 minutes during a gym session. The netball enthusiast suffered a cardiac arrest while at a boot camp, collapsing after feeling drained and dizzy following a weightlifting workout.
Paramedics arrived swiftly and performed CPR, but Victoria's heart had stopped. She recalls an out-of-body experience, floating near the ceiling and looking down at her body. She noted her legs appeared swollen, a sign of heart failure. After 17 minutes, her heart restarted, and she was rushed to Bristol Royal Infirmary, where she spent three days in a coma.
Following her recovery, Victoria was fitted with a defibrillator to prevent further cardiac arrests. Despite multiple episodes, she returned to playing netball within weeks. In February 2021, she discovered she was pregnant, but the pregnancy placed strain on her heart, leading to regular cardiac arrests.
At 24 weeks pregnant, Victoria was diagnosed with Danon disease, a rare genetic disorder affecting fewer than a million people globally. The condition, caused by a defect in the LAMP 2 gene, has an average life expectancy of 19 for men and 24 for women. Victoria is the first in her family to be diagnosed.
Her son Tommy was delivered via emergency caesarean at 30 weeks and was healthy. However, Victoria's heart function declined to 11%, indicating end-stage heart failure. She was told she had only months to live. Placed on the urgent donor register, she received a new heart in a transplant that saved her life.
Now a single mother, Victoria is grateful for the second chance. She says, 'I vowed I wouldn't leave him,' referring to her son. Her story highlights the importance of organ donation and the resilience of the human spirit.
